The Axe
by Alice Brennan
Summary: Percy, now an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries, runs an experiment on the Axe from Little Red Riding Hood...with unexpected results.


**Written For The Hunger Games Fanfic Style III - Day One, with the prompts:** **Character: Percy Weasley, Dialogue: "I'm not so sure about this." / "Just trust me.", Setting: The Forbidden Forest, AU: Soulmates, Weapon: Axe, and for good measure- a sixth, Word: Unexpected**

Percy hated his new job with a passion. After the war, when the new Minister of Magic was elected, it was decided that Percy could no longer be trusted as the Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic. Instead, he was offered a position as an unspeakable. The conditions were less than desirable. He would never have the recognition he longed for in this position, and the paperwork was horrendous. It wasn't that there was a lot of it. He had grown accustomed to having a lot of documentation to do as the Minister's apprentice. It was the nature of the work itself. It was the research he had to do to study the artifacts in their archive. It was this ridiculous story sitting in the folder in front of him. The axe that he was studying was interesting, he would admit, but there was no possible way the tale that accompanied it had any merit whatsoever. It was a disgrace, being asked to sit here and read this trash rather than being allowed to do something truly worth his time. Something important. Still, it had been this or lose his job at the ministry altogether. Percy took a deep breath and braced himself as he started to read. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Once upon a time…a long, long, long (and so on and so forth) time ago, there live a little old witch named Sigrith and a little old wizard named Phillip. They met in a bookstore and fell madly in love. In fact, Phillip was so madly in love with Sigrith, that he always said if there was anything in his entire life that he regretted, it was that he didn't meet her sooner so that they would have more time together. After all, when you're a little old wizard, time has a tendency to feel awfully short.

After Phillip married Sigrith, they decided to build a home together and start a family right away. He wanted to build the house instead of buying one, because if he put his time and energy and magic into building the house, then the house would be a part of him. Then his wife and his family would still have this part of him long after the rest of him ran out of time. So, Phillip went out and bought the nicest axe he could find, went into the closest forest (now known as the Forbidden Forest), and began chopping wood. He built a little cottage in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, using wood he chopped with an enchanted axe (It had to be enchanted, because let's face it, how else do you expect a little old man to chop down such ferocious looking trees into pieces small enough to build a cottage with?). Once the little cottage was done, Phillip and Sigrith moved in and they had a family and lived happily ever after. Until, as most living things do, he died.

When her husband died, Sigrith was so sad that she decided to become a recluse and never leave her house ever again, because it was all she had left of him. (I imagine the house became very stinky, because if she never left, how did she go buy cleaning supplies? That's beside the point though. Where was I? Oh yes!) Sigrith survived off the food her daughter brought her. When her daughter grew older and had a child of her own, her granddaughter brought her food instead. Sigrith loved her granddaughter very much. She even made her a red cloak to prove it, after her granddaughter brought her the supplies she needed in order to make it. After all, who wouldn't choose a pretty red cloak over their little old grandmother attending the various important functions of their life? Her granddaughter did love the cloak though. In fact, she loved it so much she decided to wear it every day and everyone began calling her "little red riding hood". Or "Red" for short, because that just seemed easier.

One day, when Red was a teenager and old enough to be walking the woods by herself, Red decided to take her grandmother a basket of bread. She was skipping through the forest, minding her own business, when out popped a wolf! The wolf appeared so suddenly that Red stumbled and fell and her basket tipped over, tossing the bread all over the ground.

"Oh dear me! I am so very sorry!" The wolf apologized quickly, helping Red pick up the bread and put it back in the basket.

"Its ruined! I can't give my grandmother dirty bread to eat!" Red cried.

"Your grandmother?" The wolf repeated, licking his chops. Red didn't know it, of course, but this wolf was very hungry himself and his favorite meal just happened to be grandmothers. "If you are taking it to your grandmother, why are you skipping through the woods with it? That seems awfully reckless."

"My grandmother lives in the woods," Red answered, because she was very naïve and her mother had never warned her about hungry wolves who ate grandmothers. "Just straight down this path to a little clearing with a pretty cottage." (Red was much too polite to ever admit how stinky her grandmother's cottage was.)

"Oh, well that makes much more sense." The wolf agreed, licking his teeth. "I do apologize. I did not realize anyone was out here. Let me make it up to you."

"How will you do that?" Red asked innocently (because she was much too polite to admit the gleam of the sun on the sharp points of his white fangs made her just a little bit nervous.)

"I know another clearing just off this path here," The wolf motioned back in the direction he had come from, "Where the prettiest wild flowers grow. I bet your grandmother will just love them. Also," The wolf suddenly had a magic wand…or a stick…Red wasn't sure which and waved it over the basket of bread. "Your bread is now clean again. Your grandmother will now have clean bread and the prettiest wild flowers."

"Oh, that sounds lovely!" Red agreed, cheerfully buying into every word that sprang from the wolf's mouth. "Thank you, Mr. Wolf!"

Without another word, Red disappeared into the trees in search of the wild flowers. "You are certainly welcome!" The wolf sneered after her, smiling eagerly as he turned down the path towards grandmother's house.

Having successfully distracted Red from her task, the wolf made it to grandmother's house before she did. By the time Red got there everything was so very chaotic that Red could hardly make sense of it. There was a great snarling and hollering and screaming. Pots and pans covered the yard, and she was pretty certain her grandmother had thrown them there. She seemed to be aiming for an angry grey dog who could do little else than dodge them. Unfortunately for grandmother, though, there are only so many pots and pans in a house, especially a stinky little cottage, and she was bound to run out.

Red dropped the basket of bread for the second time and grabbed her grandfather's axe from the stump close to the cottage, where he had conveniently left it before he died. She rushed inside and began swinging the axe towards the dog as her grandmother cowered behind her. Much to Red's surprise, she recognized the same wolf who had been so kind to her before. It was so much of a surprise that Red stopped swinging the axe.

"Why would you do this to my grandmother?" Red asked, tears forming in her eyes.

The wolf was much too hungry to answer and lunged at Red. Right about then a woodcutter burst through the door, grabbed the axe from Red's hand and buried it in the wolf's chest in midair.

"You saved us!" The grandmother cried, pressing her hand to her to chest.

Red reached for her grandfather's axe at the same time as the woodcutter. Their hands touched the axe at the same time, and as Red met the woodcutter's gaze, the wooden handle of the axe began to glow. For her grandfather had forgotten, in his old age, to tell them the secret of his enchanted axe. He loved his family so much that the best gift he could think to give them was, in fact, love. Before he died he placed one last enchantment on his handy axe, the ability to identify soulmates and help them to recognize each other. This way, none of his children or grandchildren would ever end up like him, with so little time to spend with his family.

Red and the woodcutter fell madly in love and they all lived happily ever after. Well, almost. You see, all that excitement was much too much for a little old lady, so it wasn't long before her heart gave out. Sigrith was happily reunited with Phillip in the afterlife and left the stinky little cottage to her granddaughter. And let's face it, it's difficult to live happily ever after when you're the caretaker of a stinky old cottage that your mom won't let you touch because of its sentimental value. Other than that, thanks to her grandfather's magical axe, they all live happily ever after.

* * *

'Magical axe my arse' Percy thought irritably. There was no part of him that believed this story was true. Unfortunately, he was quite certain his new boss wouldn't accept 'I read the story and thoroughly believe the entire thing Is one big load of bat guano' as proper research and documentation. No, he expected Percy to run an experiment on the "enchanted" axe and actually test whether there was any truth to it. Thanks to his uncontrollable obsession with pleasing his authority figures, Percy was going to do just that. Suddenly Percy's eyes lit up. An idea had just occurred to him, and he had just enough authority as an unspeakable to get it done. Yes, he could test the story of the enchanted axe and get revenge at the same time, and there was nothing he liked more than dealing out justice. Except for authority. Justice was definitely a close second though. Percy quickly picked up a piece of parchment and began planning out his 'experiment'. All he had to do was get his boss's approval.

He didn't have to wait long either. The next day, Percy met with his boss deep in the archives of the Department of Mysteries.

"I'm not so sure about this…" His boss said hesitantly, as he carefully wrapped the axe in a protective cloth. The axe hadn't been out of the archives since the day they acquired it, and typically the unspeakables worked in the privacy of the department of mysteries, not in a dangerous forest with an unstable violent werewolf that he was certain was just itching for a chance to escape.

"Just trust me," Percy urged him. "This is the perfect way to determine whether there is any truth in the story. We will reenact it. Greyback will play right into our plan, and if he doesn't, we will have aurors on standby."

"You are putting an unstable werewolf in the same vicinity as an ex-deatheater, in a forest next to a school filled to the brim with students. If this goes wrong, you will never work for the ministry again." His boss threatened.

"I understand." Percy agreed. Part of him wanted to back out and tell his boss that he changed his mind. That his job was too important to him to risk it. This was the only thing liked about being an unspeakable though, having the authority to do his own research and run his own experiments. If this went well, he might gain enough approval from his boss to be allowed more freedom to choose what he studied. "Trust me." He repeated.

The older wizard handed him the bundle containing the axe. "Do not touch this with your bare hands. Without knowing for certain what power it holds, it could be too dangerous. Even if your experiment goes wrong, I want there to be enough left of you to fire."

"Yes sir." Percy agreed eagerly, taking the bundle, "Thank you, sir."

It wasn't long before the rest of Percy's elaborate scheme was set into motion. Testing the axe might be a waste of time, but Percy was certain he would be able to spin this in his favor while still meeting his boss's requirements.

* * *

Snow crunched beneath his shoes and Percy's breath froze on the air. Even the trees looked cold. Even though he knew aurors were waiting just out of sight, the weather wasn't the only thing making him shudder. Percy knew his brother's attacker wasn't far, and as he crouched down behind some of the taller shrubs near the cottage, he couldn't stop the chill going up his spine. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for. All he had to do now was wait.

Severus's evening patrolling the endless corridors of Hogwarts was almost at an end. It had been dreadfully dull this time, having only caught one student breaking rules rather than the four or five he was usually able to sentence to weeks of detention. He would have to volunteer for additional patrolling duty or there wouldn't be enough students available in detention to scrub his classroom this week.

He was just about to head back to the dungeons when he heard it. First there was the screaming. It was high pitched. A female. He was sure of it. The second was more of a growl. He might have mistaken it for a dog except there was an oddly human undertone to it. If he hadn't know better he would think it was a werewolf. That wouldn't make sense though. There were no werewolves currently in Hogwarts that he was aware of, and Severus was always aware of that particular misfortune. He hated them.

Severus drew his wand and slowly continued down the corridor in the direction the screaming had come from. He didn't have to go far. The monster had been headed straight for him, with the new Head of Gryffindor clutched tightly within its claws. Severus froze, his eyes widening briefly in surprise before he quickly wiped his face of any sort of expression at all. "Good evening Fenrir. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is no longer open hunting grounds. I am going to have to ask you to release Professor Morgan."

"You do exactly as I say, or I will rip Professor Morgan's throat out." Fenrir growled threateningly.

Terror flashed in the witch's eyes as she struggled in vain to pull the werewolf's arm away from her throat. He was stronger than her and had caught her off guard. She hadn't even had a chance to defend herself.

"What do you want?" Severus demanded simply.

"We're going to go on a little trip." Fenrir answered with a laugh, "Into the Forbidden Forest."

Severus hesitated. Leaving the castle with a mad werewolf was not on his to do list tonight, but he knew Fenrir was serious. He could see it in his eyes. He had also seen, first hand, how ruthless he could be. If Severus didn't go with him, Fenrir would kill Morgan right there in front of him and then come after him anyways. Severus had no choice. "Fine. A trip into the forbidden forest. I could use some fresh air."

"Put your wand on the ground and kick it away from you." Fenrir demanded.

Severus reluctantly obeyed.

"You make any noise or try to call for help and she's dead." Fenrir promised. "No funny business. Lead the way."

Severus quietly led Fenrir out of Hogwarts and towards the Forbidden forest. Neither he nor Morgan dared to make another sound until they were well away from the castle. The night was dark and cold. Snow crunched under their shoes and their breath froze on the air. Severus stopped as they reached the edge of the woods, but Fenrir snapped, "Keep moving."

"Where?" Severus asked even as he started walking again.

"Just keep walking." Fenrir snapped, refusing to answer him.

So, he did, and they kept walking for over an hour, until they came upon a small clearing with an old worn-down cottage in the center. The roof had collapsed, and two of the windows were shattered out. The grass around it was overgrown and dark green vines were snaking down the sides. An axe was stuck in an old stump nearby where whoever had live there had once been chopping wood. Probably for a fireplace. Severus eyed the axe, and a smirk almost slipped onto his face.

He turned to face Fenrir, slowly backing up away from him and towards the stump. "What are we doing here?"

Fenrir shoved Morgan to the ground between them and turned his wand on Severus. "You're here to pay, Severus. Did you really think it would be so easy to get away with betraying the Dark Lord? That none of us would eventually be free to come after you."

"How did you escape from Azkaban?" Severus asked, keeping the werewolf talking and distracted as he backed up towards the axe. He had already played right into his hand by releasing Morgan. Now all he had to do was be quick enough to avoid his wand. Fenrir was notorious for his temper. If Severus could make him angry enough, maybe the stupid mutt would forget his wand altogether.

"Azkaban isn't what it used to be. It wasn't hard. If I hadn't come for you, it would only have been a matter of time before someone else did." Fenrir explained mockingly.

"How sweet, the way the eager mutt strives so hard to please its master, even so long after his master is dead. Though, most dogs tend to have enough of a self-preservation instinct to avoid dying in its master's name. You seem to be lacking in that area." Severus retorted.

I'm not the one who is going to die today." He growled angrily.

Morgan screamed as Fenrir lunged at Severus. Severus wrapped his hands around the handle of the axe and swung it right into the werewolf's chest.

Fenrir's eyes widened in horror as blood poured from the wound in his chest. "Looks like you are." Severus answered, standing over him.

Fenrir reached for the handle of the axe. Morgan grabbed it and wrenched it from his chest as the light vanished from his eyes.

Severus grabbed the handle of the axe to take it from her, but as his fingers wrapped around it, something strange happened. The axe began to glow. Severus's gaze met Morgan's and the breath caught in her chest. It was as though they were seeing each other for the first time, as a witch and wizard rather than rivals.

"Thank you." Morgan whispered, finally remembering to breath.

"My pleasure," Severus smirked.

One single moment of hesitation later, and they were in each other's arms, kissing and touching, oblivious to the cold. The red headed Weasley hidden in the bushes nearby fell backwards, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes as though they were burning from the very sight of it.

Several agonizing minutes later, well after the new happy couple decided to return to the castle, Percy stepped into the clearing. A heavy, leather glove protected his hands as he picked up the axe and placed it into the long wooden box waiting nearby. He couldn't resist taking a closer look at the weathered engravings on the handle. Maybe there was more to that silly old story after all.

Closing the lid to the box, he stood back up and moved to look down at the bloody werewolf. A smug sense of success fell over him, as he prodded the beast with his foot. The results of the experiment were unexpected, but it was certainly a success. Percy smiled. Being an unspeakable had its perks.

 _ **The End**_


End file.
